A quiet cafe lunch
by Doc Lee
Summary: What should have been a quiet, relaxing lunch in a cafe... Isn't. AU for late S3/S4 (maybe). A little bit of ass kicking in this, but not as dark as the tags suggest.


'How is he?' John Diggle rushed alongside the gurney as the EMTs hurried over to the waiting ambulances.

'Gunshot to the right side of the chest,' The lead EMT barked at his colleagues, 'appears to have missed the lung and is a through and through. He's bleeding and appears to have a concussion. We need to set up an IV...' the man stopped barking orders when Oliver moved his head slightly.

'GET AWAY FROM HIM!' Diggle bellowed, Detective Lance stopping him from approaching the medics, 'You need to give him space!'

'We need to work on stabilising him,' The lead EMT glared, 'Now step back and let us...ugh!'

Oliver's eyes snapped open and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the EMT leader found himself face down on the gurney, Oliver's knee in his back and the pair of scissors he's been cutting the expensive shirt off him with pressed into his neck.

'Shit!' Diggle wrestled Lance off him, 'Oliver, it's okay. You're safe. We're in Starling City. You need to focus on my voice Oliver,' Oliver's eyes darted around at the nervous SCPD officers, their weapons drawn in concern for the EMT technician. Seeing the slight drooping of Oliver's shoulders, Diggle carefully stepped towards his friend and Boss.

'Oliver,' He slowly reached out, Oliver's eyes focussing on him.

'Felicity,' Oliver rasped, 'Where... Where is she?'

'She's still inside the cafe,' Diggle explained slowly, reaching out to take the scissors from Oliver's hand, the surrounding SCPD holstering their weapons slowly, 'They shot you. Lance managed to get them to release you and the pregnant woman Felicity was comforting, but they wouldn't allow her to go with you.'

'We need to get in there Dig,' Oliver released the EMT with a muttered apology. Turning to Lance the older man flinched at the fury on Oliver's face, 'What's the status? And don't give me the police bullshit Quentin.'

'Stalemate,' Lance winced, 'They won't release anyone until their demands are met and Pike has tied my hands by refusing to meet any demands until we get more hostages out the cafe.'

'Who are they?' Oliver pulled off the ruined shirt, his chest caked in blood. To the astonishment of all but Diggle, Oliver turned and packed the entry wound with gauze and taping it to his chest before glancing at Diggle, who proceeded to repeat Oliver's actions on his exit wound.

'Five brothers,' Lance watched, his brain suddenly connecting dots, 'The Geffin family. Parents were killed in the Undertaking and their family business was destroyed by the goons that attacked the city a last year back. They've taken to robbing banks and high end jewellery stores to make ends meet.'

'If you know who they are,' Oliver glowered, 'Why haven't you arrested them?'

'Proof,' Lance shrugged, wincing as his own recent injury tweaked itself, 'We have enough evidence to know they're the ones, but we don't have enough to convince a jury. If we get them out alive today then we will.'

'You want them subdued?' Oliver wobbled to his feet.

'I'd like them stopped,' Lance nodded, 'And I'd like to see Miss Smoak brought out of there safely.' Frowning at the sudden fear that washed over Oliver, Lance flinched when he turned and ripped a bar off the gurney.

'Give me ten minutes,' Oliver growled dangerously. Lance tried to stop Oliver, but found himself slammed against the ambulance, 'I'm going in there Lance.'

'We can't allow it Oliver,' Lance argued, 'It's not safe...'

'Felicity's in there,' Lance watched the younger man struggle with containing his fury.

'And we'll get her out,' Lance vowed, 'be patience Oliver. I promise you I will get her out safely.'

'What was it you said the other night?' Oliver released Lance, 'The city's scum are getting worse. I'm sorry Quentin, but I can't leave her in the hands of the SCPD, not anymore.'

Lance's eyes blew wide when Oliver quoted something he'd told the Arrow, 'Why?'

'Felicity's pregnant.' Oliver spun away from Lance and started sprinting towards the cafe.

Lance turned his shocked face to Diggle, only to find an equally shocked expression on the former military man's face.

'News to me Lance,' Diggle blinked, 'But I promise you, if she's hurt, then you'll need body bags, not cuffs for the Geffins... Oh shit.'

Lance turned to the store to see two of the three gunmen appear, their rifles pointing at Oliver. In what felt like slow motion, Oliver dropped and swept their legs out from under them, sending them crashing to the ground. One of the three men recovered quickly, grabbing his gun and turning to where Oliver had been.

He blinked and turned to look behind him, receiving the metal bar smashed into his face. Almost instantly, Oliver had him on the ground and the resulting snapping of his arm could be heard metres away, his screams silenced by Oliver's expensive leather shoe smacked against his already broken nose, knocking him out.

Scrambling to his feet, Oliver realised the other two brothers had clambered to theirs and were trying to surround him. The Starling City summer sun glinted off the bar as Oliver struck, slamming it into one, then both knees of one brother before elbowing him in the face. The focus on one brother meant that Oliver allowed the second to strike, the man jabbing his fist into Oliver's wound and causing him to cry out in pain.

Kicking the already kneeling brother round the head, Oliver turned to block a second blow from the other brother.

'My god,' Lance muttered, 'What the hell happened to him?'

'Five years where nothing good happened,' Diggle repeated Oliver's line. A groan rang out from the police line when Oliver was struck by the brother's boot between his legs, causing him to stumble back.

'Not a good idea I take it?' Lance glanced at Diggle who winced and shook his head.

The brother was surprised when the underhanded move didn't pay off and he was even more surprised when he found himself locked in a choke hold, Oliver's leg around his neck as the man pulled his shoulder out of the socket. Another swift boot to the face had the third brother out for the count.

'You should get everyone ready to react,' Diggle muttered, 'He'll be finished in a minute.'

Lance's reply was lost as the fourth brother exited the cafe via one of it's large windows and bounced off a nearby car, his leg bent at an un-natural angle.

'One more...' Diggle muttered.

'Get ready people!' Lance bellowed as a scream rang out from the cafe, 'Move in now!'

Diggle shadowed Lance across to the cafe, the hostages streaming out past their unconscious hostage takers. Darting into the cafe, Diggle let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding when he saw Oliver with his arm around a kneeling Felicity, his other hand pressed over her stomach.

'Hey Smoak,' Lance saw the nod of life from the EMT that was checking over the badly beaten final brother, 'There are less stressful ways to announce that you're pregnant, you do know that?'

'Maybe next time,' Felicity flushed, Oliver sighing and kissing her soundly.

'There had better not be a next time young lady!' Lance barked, his fatherly side slipping past the cop side.

'What's going to happen now?' Felicity pulled away from Oliver and turned worried eyes to Lance, 'I can't see the SCPD letting Oliver get away with all of this.'

'He was acting in the defence of the mother of his child,' Lance watched her fear turn into shock, and then anger when Oliver slipped an arm under her knees and lifted her from the floor effortlessly.

'PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW OLIVER QUEEN!' Felicity's loud voice carried across the cafe, Lance and Diggle not the only ones hiding their mirth at the scene before them.

'Are they always like that?' Lance turned to Diggle once Oliver had marched out the cafe in search of an ambulance.

'Worse,' Diggle groaned, 'So much worse.'


End file.
